Linux and College?

So I went back to the darkside and got a dual partition running with openSUSE and Windows 7 right now. I'm considering just completely taking off Windows in the near future, but since I'm going back to college I don't know if it's a good idea. I've been doing online courses, and haven't had any compatability problems. But my course load involves a lot of engineering and sciences. Has anyone run into any problems of a class wanting you to use some software, but it wouldn't run on anything but Windows? I'm not trying to get stuck.

I would not uninstall Windows 7. There are far too many apps and utils that run on it which warrants not removing it. Even though the fanboys say otherwise Microsoft OS's are still the king and more PC desktop programs are written for them than any other OS in the world.

I've never had that problem with my degree. Although I do have both, I've never used Windows for any uni related stuff. Thankfully, the tools are either for Linux, or cross-platform.

The only problem you might have is with group work, for example if your team want to use Microsoft Word. It can often be difficult, if not impossible to convince them to use LaTeX ;). IMO, Leave Windows 7 along.

My laptop runs only Linux. Haven't had any problem with it so far (going into third year electrical engineering).

It depends on the program and profs I guess. They don't really force us to use any program. For example, for circuit simulation, they would show us briefly how to do it with one program (could be Windows-only), but we can choose anything we want, as long as we can get the job done.

All communications and documents from school/profs are in open formats (mostly PDF).

For just reading, Open Office can open .doc pretty well, too. But I wouldn't prepare a .doc report using it.

Fortunately I've never had to compile reports. I'm always the one just sending in my part :).

I heard for mechanical engineering nothing comes to Solidworks, though (a 3D modelling program), and it only runs on Windows. I only use it very rarely, and ran it on my desktop's gaming Windows installation.

Yeah I'm thinking about just shrinking the partition to about 50 gigs just incase I ever need to use it.

It depends on what you want to do after university. Do you wish to get a job in the Windows dominated market? Or do you plan to find a job in the Unix world?

Stick with both OSes on your system. Besides what do you prefer? To know only one operating system or to know many?

Both OpenOffice and Abiword can handle Office 2007 formats, and GNU Octave can replace MATLAB. You might be screwed if you have to use Autodesk Inventor or SolidWorks.

I barely ever use windows -- mostly for validating things in IE -- but if you have it installed, I would not remove it unless you really need the space. Which even then it would probably be better to just buy a small HD for <$50.

Another option would be to run Linux and put Windows in a VMWare image.

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Another option would be to run Linux and put Windows in a VMWare image.

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My experience with stuff like Sun VirtualBox is that even with the OpenGL integration it's pretty much unusable for any sort of graphical programs (3D modeling, video editing, games, etc. - and those are really the only programs for which there are no good Linux alternatives - what a shame). Maybe VMWare is better but VirtualBox is right up there with the best as far as I know. And keep in mind you have to have the resources (especially RAM) to fully support 2 operating systems and whatever programs they may be running.

VMWare doesn't add much in terms of support. Sure they have it. But you need a monster machine for anything beyond the basics.

Or used to. I actually don't know what effect hardware virtualization has on VMWare graphical performance. Anyone?

Most universities give shell access to *nix boxes on the schools network, especially for computer science students.

There's also VMWare ESXi which is it's own tiny OS so you don't need to run is on top of another OS. If I can ever find a decent motherboard that doesn't crash, I'd like to use that.

What engineering are you going into? I can say from the mechanical side I have used many programs that only run on windows. Also I've had problems with writing documents in OpenOffice that later are opened in MS Word. Tables get screwy and formulas don't work right.

As valaris said though, you should check to see if you can remotely control a PC from your Uni. My Uni has this and it has come in handy countless times (Modeling and CAD programs).

Really though, whats the harm on keeping a small partition for windows on your hard drive just to make sure you've got your bases covered. This is college, don't screw it up :).

I'm going into a dual degree program at GA Tech for engineering and physics. Going to try to specialize in biomedical engineering. My end goal is to get into prostetics or the cardiac field. My backup would be to get just into mechanical engineering and go from there.

My main concern as of right now is the fact that there always seems to be something wrong with Linux. Everytime I start openSUSE up, it seems like I have to jump through hoops to get it to run right. Windows 7 just seems to run. I turn it on, the OS runs right, nothing crashes, and everything works. Right now, my Linux OS has issues, and I feel like Linux is always going to have issues.

I've got about a month and a half before my next semester starts and that's really my main concern. I don't want to get in there and ........ just won't work right.

So...

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Originally Posted by carrotcake1029

Really though, whats the harm on keeping a small partition for windows on your hard drive just to make sure you've got your bases covered.

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?

As far as I can tell, dual booting will allow you to have your cake and eat it too.

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Originally Posted by lpaulgib

Right now, my Linux OS has issues, and I feel like Linux is always going to have issues.

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The issue is you don't understand it well enough, but linux 101 is a course unto itself. There is not time for everyone to learn everything, and probably learning linux does not belong high on your priority list.

In short, it sounds like it would be downright foolish for you to ditch your windows install. Esp. if your course load may depend on some proprietary software. You don't get to choose the textbooks, the prof does. And outside of computer science proper, I doubt very much they would require people to use *nix based software -- that would not be very fair. Windows is the "lowest common denominator" of operating systems -- that's it's (gigantic) niche.

Have you tried other Linuxes like Ubuntu...? Maybe it's just something with openSUSE on your hardware?

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Originally Posted by cpjust

Have you tried other Linuxes like Ubuntu...? Maybe it's just something with openSUSE on your hardware?

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Frying pan. Fire. Fire. Frying pan.

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Originally Posted by cpjust

Have you tried other Linuxes like Ubuntu...? Maybe it's just something with openSUSE on your hardware?

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Ubunto has problems with the nvidia drivers right now. openSUSE works fine, just takes jumping through loops to get stuff done.

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Originally Posted by MK27

I barely ever use windows -- mostly for validating things in IE -- but if you have it installed, I would not remove it unless you really need the space. Which even then it would probably be better to just buy a small HD for <$50.

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$50 for a "small" HD. . . my my my.

For 50 USD you can get a BIG HD.

I run Ubuntu on 3 computers all with nvidia cards. What problem?

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Originally Posted by Kennedy

$50 for a "small" HD. . . my my my.

For 50 USD you can get a BIG HD.

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Do people consider 320Gb big ;) ? I suppose you could fit 2-3 OS's pretty comfortably on it, at least.

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Originally Posted by MK27

Do people consider 320Gb big ;) ?

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Those who are into illegally downloading movies will not. Definitely.

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Do people consider 320Gb big ?

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That's the same thing I was thinking when I read that. :p

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Originally Posted by Mario F.

Those who are into illegally downloading movies will not. Definitely.

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Ha ha, but AFAIK most movie downloaders don't keep them there long, as they put 'em on DVDs.
Actually, I know more than one person who's bought new HDs/computers because they packed out their existing "big" drive with photos.

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Originally Posted by cyberfish

I run Ubuntu on 3 computers all with nvidia cards. What problem?

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With Ubuntu 10.04 LTS, there are problems with the nvidia drivers, and when you run an install, when it boots you get a black screen. I had that problem when I tried to install it. Just to get to a shell you have to change Grubs settings to nomodset and some other stuff. And after that people are having to save info running Windows and trying to transfer it to the Linux side with some program to get the settings right, or you're stuck running your OS through a shell. As far as I know the earlier versions do not have this problem, and if you're running 10.04 then I don't know why you didn't have the problems. You can google "ubuntu 10.04 and nvidia drivers" and you'll have all results of the issues.

My second distro choice was a tie between openSUSE and Slackware. Just went with openSUSE because I haven't ran Linux in about 6 years, and if I remembered correctly, Slackware isn't very friendly to learners. So I went with openSUSE because there was no hardware compatability issues I could see. My only problems were generally getting software to install, I destroyed my Xorg.config trying to get 3D running using the Control Center manager.

My biggest problem right now was I tried to install snort. What a damn trainwreck that went. For snort, I then had to download Flex, libpcap, m4, and tcpdump. And of c ourse when I tried to make and install them, I was naturally missing required libraries and other stuff I in turn had to download. It's been such a pain in the ass. I'm still trying get it to work just for the reason that I can't get it to work. I don't even really want to software anymore. I just tried to download it to have it, and now I'm on a mission to make it work right.

But, it's the story of my life.

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Originally Posted by lpaulgib

With Ubuntu 10.04 LTS, there are problems with the nvidia drivers, and when you run an install, when it boots you get a black screen. I had that problem when I tried to install it. Just to get to a shell you have to change Grubs settings to nomodset and some other stuff.

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Yeah, this is one of the dumber "improvements" incorporated by the major distros. I do not see the point of a graphical login other than the fact that it looks pretty. What's wrong with watching the kernel boot, watching the init scripts run, then leaving all that on screen in terminal mode. Then you log in and type "startx".

Xdm (the GUI login) was meant for institutions with sys admins to take care of everything. Making it a stand-alone desktop default is truly "devolutionary", as this example demonstrates. Everytime I install a new distro I have to go hack around in /etc/init.d to disable the stupid xdm setup. You cannot just "de-install" it any other way, meaning it is effectively mandatory for most users if you are running X.

I see a viscous circle here: new users demand linux prettify itself as a PR imperative to challenge windows (I think you, lpaulgib, were doing this in a previous thread, irony), and in the process the distro geniuses want to defang everything so the new users don't hurt themselves. They both end up with a gimpy interface that is equally opaque and useless, only making real issues worse and more difficult to deal with.

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Originally Posted by MK27

Yeah, this is one of the dumber "improvements" incorporated by the major distros. I do not see the point of a graphical login other than the fact that it looks pretty. What's wrong with watching the kernel boot, watching the init scripts run, then leaving all that on screen in terminal mode. Then you log in and type "startx".

Xdm (the GUI login) was meant for institutions with sys admins to take care of everything. Making it a stand-alone desktop default is truly "devolutionary", as this example demonstrates. Everytime I install a new distro I have to go hack around in /etc/init.d to disable the stupid xdm setup. You cannot just "de-install" it any other way, meaning it is effectively mandatory for most users if you are running X.

I see a viscous circle here: new users demand linux prettify itself as a PR imperative to challenge windows (I think you, lpaulgib, were doing this in a previous thread, irony), and in the process the distro geniuses want to defang everything so the new users don't hurt themselves. They both end up with a gimpy interface that is equally opaque and useless, only making real issues worse and more difficult to deal with.

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My previous threads comments were in regard to Windows being friendly to the masses and that its not really that terrible. I said many times that I have no issues with Linux. There's no real irony in me saying that people want usability out of their OS. Better usability is progress. Linux can't stay in the command line forever. As technology evolves, so should Linux.

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Originally Posted by lpaulgib

My previous threads comments were in regard to Windows being friendly to the masses and that its not really that terrible. I said many times that I have no issues with Linux. There's no real irony in me saying that people want usability out of their OS. Better usability is progress.

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I am with you so far.

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Originally Posted by lpaulgib

Linux can't stay in the command line forever. As technology evolves, so should Linux.

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You can have my command line when you pry it out of my cold, dead fingers. :D

Usability != taking the command line away. There are instances where the command line is essential. Try doing batch work without it. I don't mind people not using the command line, but don't take it away from those of us who do. I don't even mind if distributions 'hide' it (Like Apple does *) as long as it is there somewhere.


BTW, to do with your original post, I would suggest you keep your Windows install intact. It's always nice to have the option of using it if you need to.

* I realise they don't actually hide the shell per se, but they don't emphasize it either - you have to go looking for it, if you want it.

Linux makes it really easy to get to command line. And dont forget the virtual terms.

Lately, I have been a fan of yakuake / Guake / tilda. I personally use yakuake. Not sure of which one came around first, but I think Guake and yakuake were based on tilda. Don't quote me on that though.